Cons

Bottom Line

The DJI Phantom 3 Advanced is one of the best drones on the market thanks to a bevy of features and 2.7K video recording.

14 Nov 2015Jim Fisher

DJI is leading the way in consumer drones, both in popularity and performance. The Phantom 3 Advanced ($999.99), the middle child in DJI's current generation of entry-level aircraft, is just as capable as its big brother, the Phantom 3 Professional, in almost every regard. The only real difference is that the Professional captures video at up to 4K quality, while the Advanced is limited to 2.7K. The Professional is our Editors' Choice, but if you don't need to shoot at 4K (or if you want to spend a bit less), the Advanced is a fine alternative.

DesignThe Phantom 3 Advanced is physically identical to the Phantom 3 Professional in almost every way. Only a small cosmetic change—the Advanced uses silver stickers on its propeller struts where the Professional has gold—separates the two.

In terms of features, the two drones are also twins. They're both flown using the same remote control and smartphone app, which now supports some automated flight features, including waypoint flying and automated return-to-home.

For information on what you can do with the Phantom 3 Advanced, as well as how it handles in flight, the app interface, and automated flight features, head over to our Phantom 3 Professional review. In testing we found that the two aircraft performed identically—the only difference is the maximum video resolution.

Video QualityYou can choose between MP4 and MOV file formats in the app, but there's no quality difference between the two. Video quality tops out at 2.7K (1520p), with 24fps, 25fps, and 30fps available. Dropping down to 1080p expands the frame rate options, adding 48fps, 50fps, and 60fps capture, and those capture rates are also available at 720p. It should be noted that you may have to update your firmware to gain access to 2.7K recording—when the Phantom 3 Advanced originally shipped it was limited to 1080p capture.

You don't hear a lot about 2.7K—4K gets all of the buzz, because that's what the latest televisions display—but it's a useful format. There's a definite resolution advantage when compared with 1080p, so you can capture video that will appear crisper when viewed on an HDTV, or can be cropped down to 1080p using editing software like Adobe Premiere Pro CC.

As for the actual quality of the video, it is a step behind the Phantom 3 Professional. It's not just because of the lower maximum resolution. The Professional encodes video at 60Mbps, while the Advanced is limited to 40Mbps. The end result is that you'll see some evidence of video compression in scenes with a lot of complex detail, and when moving the gimbal up and down. It's not a huge difference, and either aircraft is an absolutely huge upgrade from the 12Mbps footage captured by the older Phantom 2 Vision+.

I noticed a bit of wobble in some of my shots, but wind was likely a factor there, as it wasn't noticeable when flying under calmer conditions. Overall, the gimbal does a solid job stabilizing aerial footage. Video is smooth, without evidence of jitters, even when making turns or changing elevation. It's like having access to a flying Steadicam.

You'll notice some horizontal lines running across the frame in some of our test footage. This isn't an effect that's limited to the P3 Advanced—you'll see it in other drones, including the Professional model, under the right conditions. It happens when the sun hits the lens (through the propeller motion) at the right angle. You can use a neutral density filter, like those available from PolarPro, to force a longer shutter speed and reduce the effect.

Still quality is identical to the Phantom 3 Professional—you can shoot solid Raw or JPG images at 12-megapixel resolution with a fixed 20mm (full-frame equivalent) field of view.

ConclusionsThe DJI Phantom 3 Advanced is a very polished product. It's easy to fly, includes nice safety features, and captures smooth aerial video at 2.7K resolution. At just under $1,000 it's an attractive option, but budget shoppers may be drawn to the Phantom 3 Standard, though the pre-production unit we flew suffered from a limited control range when flying in a suburban environment—a concern for backyard drone fliers.

Even though it's priced a few hundred dollars higher, the Phantom 3 Professional is still our Editors' Choice for consumer drones. The ability to record at 4K quality is a big plus, as the format is becoming more mainstream than niche. But if you're on a tighter budget, the Advanced is a fine second choice: it's one of the best drones out there right now.

About the Author

Senior digital camera analyst for the PCMag consumer electronics reviews team, Jim Fisher is a graduate of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, where he concentrated on documentary video production. Jim's interest in photography really took off when he borrowed his father's Hasselblad 500C and light meter in 2007.

He honed his writing skills at retailer B&H Photo, where he wrote thousands upon thousands of product descriptions, blog posts, and reviews. Since then he's shot with hundreds of camera models, ranging from pocket point-and-shoots to medium format digital cameras. And he's reviewed almost all of them. When he's not testing cameras and gear for PCMag, he's likely out and about shooting with ... See Full Bio